Solomon Update

This week we received a few more bits of information about Solomon….the two biggest things are 1) He just turned 3 in November! Not 4! and 2) His birthparents are still living! As is the case with many families living in Ghana, and in many areas of Africa, Solomon has been offered in adoption due to financial difficulties. Solomon’s parents are listed as farmers, and he has two older siblings.

On Wednesday when we found out that his birthparents were still living, it really threw in an entirely new dynamic to the situation. I cried off and on all day for Solomon’s birthmother, and this decision that she and her husband had to make. It just doesn’t seem ‘fair’ that we are so blessed here in our country with more than enough, and yet living there she has to give up one of her three children in order for survival. It is hard to imagine the desperate situation there, but I know we will be able to clearly see it once we are there. The hope is that we will be able to meet his birthparents while we are there, and Jake possibly might be able to meet them on his first trip. I cannot imagine what it will be like to look into the eyes of Solomon’s mother and see all the hopes and dreams that she has for her child, and to see firsthand that she is entrusting him to us. I am thankful that I am coming into this already having been a mother, because it has given me a unique perspective on the birthparents decision. It seems like I can feel a piece of their anguish in what it would be like to give up a child, and I can see the hope and trust in God that this is the best decision.

Solomon is schooling and in ‘Kindergarten 2’ at a primary school where he lives, which means he is probably learning English! English is actually the official language of Ghana, although there are numerous other dialects that exist among the various ethnic groups which makes every tribe unique in its group identity. Solomon lives in Adaklu-Sikama in the Volta Region of Ghana. Here is a larger map of Africa showing where Ghana is located (on the left side of Africa, shaded in green).

Acts 17:26-28 From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 'For in him we live and move and have our being.'